


Growing Pains

by Insertpoetryhere



Series: Dad AU [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption, But mostly fluff, Connor centric, Dad Hank, Dad fic that no one asked for, Father son relationship, Gen, Grandpa Hank!, M/M, R1K1, a little angsty, but most importantly, but with a baby, its cute, theres a baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 23:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17192417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insertpoetryhere/pseuds/Insertpoetryhere
Summary: Becoming a new parent is hard. Becoming a new android parent to a human baby is even harder.Good thing Connor has some pretty good teachers to show him the ropes





	Growing Pains

Connor flicked his coin nervously, his LED flashing yellow as it passed from one hand to another. His foot was tapping out some type of complex rhythm on the tile floor, and his eyes darted from the hallway to the door in front of them. What was taking so long?

3 years. 3 long years of sitting on the waiting list, completing interview after interview, defending their own humanity at every step of the way. It all led up to this.

“What’s taking them so long?” He asked, flicking the coin at a much faster rate. He felt a hand fall on his knee and he relaxed, catching the coin in his right palm.

“Calm down.” Markus reassured him, his thumb rubbing in small circles. “We’ve waited for 3 years, we can wait just a few more minutes.”

“I know… I’m just a little restless. It’s hard to believe that we’re actually here.” Connor sighed. He looked into his husband’s eyes, one green and one blue. He smiled at Markus, feeling a small bit of relief flow through his artificial veins.

“Mr. Manfred-Anderson?” The two turned their heads abruptly, looking at the Chloe model that stood in the doorway. She had a wide smile on her face and a bundle of blankets tucked carefully in her arms. Not sure which one of them she was referring to, Connor and Markus both stood up.

The android smiled at them, then looked back down at the bundle in her hands. “Congratulations! It’s a girl!” She announced as if they were sitting in the lobby of a hospital rather than an adoption agency.

Connor looked back over at Markus before stepping forward and gathering their new daughter into his arms. A small hand popped out of the folds of the blanket, skin the color of caramel and just a shade or two darker than Markus was. The few hairs that sat on top of her head were thick and dark brown, but soft and feathery at the same time. She opened her eyes, only for half a second, but long enough for Connor to catch the chocolate brown color of her irises. A quick scan revealed that she was no older than 4 weeks old, and in perfect health.

She was absolutely perfect. There was no possible way she could not be (They could have brought out a baby covered head to toe in scales and Connor still would have thought they were perfect).

Markus placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled widely. Connor only noticed that he had been crying when a synthetic tear fell on her nose, making the baby flinch and rub her face.

“Have you picked out a name?” Chloe asked, trying to contain her second-hand excitement for the new parents. Connor and Markus exchanged a look that strongly resembled that of a deer stuck in the headlights.

“Well, uh…” Markus cleared his throat. “We’re still kinda stuck between a few names.”

That was an understatement. The two hadn’t managed to settle on a single name, but not necessarily out of a lack of effort. They’d given almost every name in the book a shot, but none of them were really holding any interest to them. Connor thought that once they saw the baby, one would just come to them. And while this moment was still the best feeling he had felt since he and Markus got married, he could say with confidence that his mind wasn’t full of perfect baby names.

Chloe laughed a little and waved her hand. “Don’t worry, you’re allowed to take the time you need to figure things out. Just make sure once you’ve got it, you give us a call back so we can finish up the paperwork.’

Connor and Markus nodded. They looked back down at their baby girl, who’s heavy brown eyes were starting to droop and her head lulled to the side, leaning on the crook of Connor’s arm. He felt his smile return, this time holding an entirely new feeling inside of it.

Whatever happened next, he was sure he was ready.

\-----

Ok, so “ready” might have been a bit of an exaggeration.

Connor didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. After the first night in her new home, their daughter hadn’t stopped crying. They’d checked everything, they’d tried all the tricks, they had even consulted every book. But all the advice was too vague.

They all said to “take it easy and allow your instincts to kick in, let the learning come naturally”. What did that even mean? Were Connor and Markus capable of “letting learning come naturally”? Did not being able to do that make them bad parents by default?

And to top it off, they still hadn’t come up with a name.

“How about Elizabeth?” Markus suggested, having to raise his voice to cover the screams that came from their small daughter. 

Connor scowled. “No. It doesn’t really fit.” He tapped his finger as he mentally searched the web for some kind of clue for how to calm their baby down. “Have you tried feeding her?”

“She just ate.” Markus replied. “And if Elizabeth is out… then what about Abigail?”

“Why all the old fashioned names?” Connor asked, smiling slightly. Markus shrugged.

“I don’t know, I just like them.” He adjusted the baby in his arms, rocking her back and forth as she continued to scream. “Ok, what should I do now?”

“Try burping her, see if that works.” Connor suggested. Markus lifted her up over his shoulder, continuing the bouncing motion that he had been using to try and soothe her for the last hour as he gently patted her on the back. Nothing.

“Ok, what about Janice?” Markus sighed, shifting her back into the nook of his arm.

“That sounds like the name of a middle aged suburban mom.” Connor deadpanned. 

“Well, who knows, maybe one day she’ll be a middle aged suburban mom and have a name that fits!” Markus was clearly starting to lose his patience, which had seemed to be endless. “Here, maybe she wants you to hold her.”

Connor blinked. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Maybe she’s just bored of looking up at the same face for an hour straight.” Markus sighed. “It’s pretty much the only thing we haven’t tried yet, it’s worth a shot.”

Connor considered the options, tapping into all the parenting advice blogs as he could before deciding that they really didn’t have anything to lose. He held out his arms as Markus carefully passed their kicking and screaming daughter over to him.

She opened up her big brown eyes and looked up at Connor’s face. The crying died down, and she gave a soft coo of approval as she allowed her eyes to close again. Connor looked over at Markus, amazed.

“How did you know to do that?” He asked in a hushed voice. Markus laughed, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“Gut feeling, I guess?” He smiled down at their baby, watching her breathing begin to even out. “I was also getting really sick of holding her while she tried to kick her way out. Figured it was your turn.”

Connor ignored the pang in his chest, ignored the fact that this is what Markus was made to do.

Ignored the fact that this is not what Connor was built for.

Instead, he allowed himself to enjoy this brief moment of quiet, curled up with his family on the couch.

\-------

Hank was aware that when his adopted son decided to adopt a child of his own, he was probably going to be getting some late night phone calls.

So he wasn’t too surprised when he got a phone call at 3 am about a week into this new arrangement.

“I’m sorry for calling so late, I just-” Connor tried to speak over the shrill cry of the baby in the background. Hank heard the android sigh. “Can you come over?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right over.” Hank smiled to himself, remembering the time he was in Connor’s shoes. Being a new dad was difficult. That’s why you need someone who knows the ropes to help you out.

Hank hung up the phone and grabbed his keys, not bothering to change out of his pajamas as he walked out of the house and hopped into his car.

He drove to a small residential area, one that was mostly populated by androids. There wasn’t really a ban on androids and humans living in the same neighborhoods, but it did seem like most androids weren’t too comfortable with being next door neighbors to the people who had once thought of them as their property. Hank could understand that.

He parked in front of one of the houses, hopped out of his car and walked through the door, not bothering to knock.

There was Connor, pacing around the living room with a baby secured in his arms. He looked… terrible.

Granted, he didn’t look nearly as bad as you’d expect a human parent to. No eyebags, no shaking hands from too many coffees. But the desperate eyes and the messy hair seemed to be universal symptoms.

“You look like shit.” Hank smiled, closing the door behind him. Connor’s eyes shot up, and he let out a relieved sigh. 

“I can’t get her to stop crying!” He said, sounding frustrated. His LED was flashing red. “I’ve tried everything! Checked her diaper, fed her, burped her! Why is none of this working? I’m doing it all by the book, exactly like you’re supposed to!”

“Connor, breathe. Just calm down.” Hank walked towards him and placed his hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Where’s Markus?”

“I told him to power down for the night, and I could handle this.” Connor knit his eyebrows together. “I don’t get it… is she sick? I’ve scanned her too many times to count, and she seems to be healthy.. but I don’t know what else it could be.”

Hank had never heard Connor’s voice sound so defeated. Combine that with his messed up hair, his t-shirt and sweatpants, and his pleading eyes… he suddenly looked even more human than ever. 

Hank never thought he’d see his son like this, without the careful and calculated approach to every problem he faced. But Hank felt this suited him better, gave him this air of normality that he had never fully grasped onto. 

“How about you sit down? I wanna try something.” Hank suggested. Connor blinked at him in confusion, but nodded in agreement. He slowly lowered himself down on the couch, looking up at Hank and waiting for the next instruction.

“Ok, what do I do now?” He asked. Hank smiled at him, taking the seat beside where his son was cradling his granddaughter.

“An important part of being a dad is knowing how to comfort a fussy baby. And trust me son, you definitely have a fussy baby on your hands.” Hank reached out and took one of the baby’s hands in his. She continued to cry, but only for a second as she felt the foreign object in her hand. Her eyes opened in wonder as she tried to wrap her tiny fingers around Hank’s calloused thumb. 

Connor watched, his LED glowing yellow in the dim light of the lamp as he tried to process the new information. “But… how did you-?”

“All she wants is you to give her a little bit of affection.” Hank explained. Connor looked back down at the baby, who was starting to smile and bring her other hand up to grab at Hank’s pinkey.

“But… I thought you were supposed to show affection by- the books all said that you-” Connor stuttered. He sighed in absolute defeat. “I don’t get it.”

Hank looked up at him, giving a weak smile. “How about you give it a shot?”

Connor hesitated slightly before taking his hand off of where it rested on the blanket. He brought it up so that it was in his daughter’s line of sight. Big brown eyes darted over to it, then looked up at Connor’s face. She gurgled loudly, moving her hands from her grandpa’s thumb to her dad’s.

Connor’s eyes lit up for a second, but clouded over soon after.

“Hank… do you think this was a mistake?” He asked, watching his little girl run her tiny fingertips along the gold band on his ring finger.

“What makes you think that?” Hank asked, leaning back and shoving both his hands back into his jacket pocket.

“I’m just… not good at this. This isn’t what I was made to do! I don’t have the right skill sets, or the right programming! I just… I wasn’t built for this.” Connor admitted, this LED turning yellow once again.

Hank noted the way that Connor’s fingers moved ever so gently towards his daughter every time her reach fell too short to grab hold of them. He noticed how her eyes flicked up to his yellow LED and, as if she knew what it meant, she pulled his hand closer. He noticed how even in all this turmoil, Connor still looked at her with this softness and love that hank could only describe as paternal. 

There was no way anyone could deny that Connor was going to be a great father, he just still had a little he needed to learn.

Hank considered pointing these things out, but then realized that these were things Connor would have to realize on his own if he really wanted to grow as a parent. Recognizing what you are doing right as a parent is just as important as knowing when you do something wrong, but it all has to be based on self report.

“Have you picked out a name?” Hank asked instead, looking at the way Connor’s smile grew back just from holding his daughter’s little hand in his.

“There was one that we both liked…” Connor said carefully. “Katie.”

Hank nodded thoughtfully. “Katie Manfred-Anderson, huh?”

He looked back down at those big brown eyes, noting how much they looked like Connor’s.

“I like it.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is super self indulgent, and no one asked for it...
> 
> But that’s not gonna stop me from writing a whole universe around it.


End file.
